Elder Kun sighed.
His arms crossed and his eyes closed, he thought to himself, ‘Yang must have gone crazy. He has always been a bit strange from time to time, but I think his age has finally gotten to him. Either that or he is scheming something so far beyond me that even I can’t predict what it could be.’
Elder Yang had just explained that Xing Yi was a Grade Nine refining talent and how he had singlehandedly beaten a senior disciple with his bare fists. For the sect, this was good news.
But for the elders, this was not good. Elder Yang had a past history of abusing his power to gain as much advantage over others and squeeze them as much of their money. Once Xing Yi stepped up and took his place, with his additional backing, their pockets would only suffer.
“It seems my eyes betrayed me that day. If I had the chance, I would’ve sweeped up Young Xing Yi and stopped that menace Wu Jia from even touching a single hair on his head!” Elder Ye praised Xing Yi’s talent, nodding his head with an appraising expression.
The revelation of Xing Yi having monstrous talent was a shock for both elders, as they would’ve never have foreseen a disciple of the sect to have a Grade Ten pill refining talent. Especially not a mortal.
The amount of people who had a Grade Ten pill refining talent could be counted with zero fingers, because there weren’t any.
At the back of Elder Ye’s and Elder Kun’s minds, they heavily doubted Elder Yang’s claims and merely thought he was bluffing or making some showing for political purposes. Of course, Xing Yi must have some degree of talent that was at least Grade Five, but beyond that they were hesitant to believe such.
Whatever it was, they hoped they weren’t implicated in it.
Elder Kun in particular had his speculations but didn’t voice them. He squinted his eyes at Elder Yang in suspicion before breaking the emerging silence with a light cough.
“Shall we return to our previous matter?” Elder Kun smiled, clasping his hands together.
Elder Yang and Ye suddenly came back to their usual mannerisms, and they resumed talking about their disciples’ expedition.
Half an hour passed, and they eventually came to a verdict.
“Three days from now, at sunrise, we will convene at the Bottom Carp Gate. From there, our disciples will embark.”
With those final words, the elders exchanged some formalities and they promptly left.
As Xing Yi arrived back at Elder Yang’s residence, him and He Yazhu were given a lecture from him about the journey they would embark on. The dangers they must avoid, how to interact with others, and pieces of wisdom such as ‘not to bite off more than you can chew’.
Then, he sent them off to their residences and told them to undergo a period of closed-door cultivation to hone their minds for the upcoming journey. The day before, Xing Yi had been introduced to a large, furnished house. It had its own dedicated meditation room, guest room, a living room with chairs and tables, and a large courtyard with a raised stone platform for training.
It was within Elder Yang’s valley of residence and with a five-minute jog he was there.
Thankfully, Elder Yang raised no questions when he brought the Black Cauldron along with him to his residence and settled in quickly. With his old home destroyed by Ge Yifeng, he wasn’t as comfortable as he liked and still dearly missed it.
But like many great cultivators who had come before him, he didn’t worry too much about his living conditions and pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. If it didn’t directly affect his prospects of cultivation, it was irrelevant and wasteful to spend time thinking about it.
With these three days and Elder Yang’s promise to not intervene with his progress, he was left to his own devices. For the next three days, he revolved his cultivation technique, purifying his meridians of any remnant impurities.
His lucrative use of medicinal pills had left him with many unexpected long nights of cleansing his meridians. A single third-rate pill contained so many impurities that he would be spending as much time absorbing its qi as he was cleansing his meridians of impurities!
If it was a grade-three or grade-four pill used by high level cultivators, they could potentially spend months or even years cleansing themselves of impurities that were caused by a single pill! That is why the quality of a pill mattered nearly as much as it’s own effect on the cultivator.
Any old fool could refine a pill. But refining a high-quality pill was a different matter.
But as Xing Yi swiftly progressed in skill, his pills contained less and less impurities until they only contained a slither of them. If he were to create a grade-one Qi Gathering pill and consume it, cleansing the impurities would take him less than twenty minutes!
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
But there were things called micro-impurities that infested the smallest corners and crevices of one’s meridians. These were far less noticeable and took far longer to cleanse than normal impurities. Unless one was attempting a breakthrough or adjusting themselves to a peak state, these micro-impurities would be left alone.
Now that Xing Yi was embarking on a journey where he could face demonic monsters or even die, he began to cleanse himself of these micro-impurities. This could take potentially weeks. But having navigated the Plane of Convergence for hundreds of hours, his inner sense was refined to a very high degree.
In a single eight-hour long session, he purged all these micro-impurities.
On the second day, he further consolidated his cultivation.
However on the third day, he took a trip to an old man who lived in a small house on an ordinary, unnamed mountain.
What would’ve took a mortal Xing Yi two hours, was instead reduced to a brief five-minute run.
He flew through the air, high above the treetops with each step, and contained his muscles was a hidden strength. As he jumped, he exhaled. And as he fell, he inhaled, preparing his body for the next movement.
He advanced with incredible speed and as he reached the foot of a certain mountain, he climbed up it with a few pulls. The cording muscles of his back and forearm strained as they grabbed the rocks on the wall.
Like a monkey flying amongst the branches, he ran up the side of the cliff with overwhelming power. His grip was so strong, that he pulled out an entire boulder by accident, falling to the ground with a loud smash that reverberated throughout the surrounding land.
Xing Yi winced at this loud sound and stepped back with an apologetic smile when he saw an old man step out with a frown on his face.
“Making a ruckus at a time like this. What do you want?” Que Zhi asked, wrinkles stretching around his mouth, evident that he had just been asleep a moment ago.
The sun was just rising over a distant hill as Xing Yi responded. “Senior, tomorrow I will be embarking into the Western Forest with a few other distinguished disciples. This junior begs for senior’s forgiveness if his visit is a disturbance to senior’s cultivation, but this one would think it inappropriate to leave without telling you.”
A cold breeze brushed over the hill as the warm hue of the morning sun painted Que Zhi’s pale, aged face.
The old man smiled. “No, no. I do not mind. That is in fact good news. Very good news! It is due time that you finally gained some experience in that place. I was thinking of sending you off to somewhere sometime soon, but it seems that you have already encountered other opportunities.”
Que Zhi stared into the valley below, shadowed by the hill that the sun peeked over from.
“Only through real world experience such as treading through dangerous places like the Western Forest, can your martial spirit be refined. Wu Jia has a strong martial spirit, forged through many victories over his peers and confidence in his own strength. You however, have little compared to him.”
“A single victory against a few bumbling kids who still stink of their mother’s milk and an idiot who had been stuck at the 6th layer of Vessel Cleansing for five years are nothing to him. Although Wu Jia is not a monster like Lou Zhou, he once defeated three disciples of equal cultivation at the same time. And that was a year ago.”
Xing Yi grimaced.
“Xing Yi, you have potential. But as of now, your martial spirit is in its infancy. Without refining your martial spirit, you will find Wu Jia impossible to defeat. Not only that, but your cultivation is inferior to his and your technique is years behind. The difference between you is that of heaven and earth.”
“But that can change. Right now, time is of the essence. I do not have time to school you about every little weakness he has and the intricacies of every single technique. I cannot coddle you any longer. In this trip into the Western Forest, you must undergo a complete rebirth. Do whatever you can to push yourself to your limit and go beyond anything you ever thought was possible. If you have to, abandon the other three and go own your own journey.”
Xing Yi bowed, “Yes, this Junior will do as Senior says.”
Que Zhi looked at Xing Yi strangely. “Xing Yi.”
“Yes?” He answered, looking Que Zhi in the eye.
“There is a very high chance you will die. If you do, you will be forgotten, and Wu Jia will go onto become great. At the very least, he will advance to Core Formation. If you come back with nothing to show for it, I will kill you myself. I am aging and have nothing to lose at this point so do not test me. Do you understand?”
Xing Yi’s replied, his breath heavy and sweat sticking between his clasped hands, “Yes, this Junior will make Senior proud. This one swears on his life that he will be reborn and return as a different person!
Que Zhi’s eyes shone as he nodded in satisfaction, “Good! That is the mindset every disciple should have.”
Xing Yi smiled, hope filling his heart.
But then, there was silence. Xing Yi sensed that Que Zhi was about to say something very important and thus withheld his words.
Eventually, Que Zhi spoke up with hesitation in his voice.
“Xing Yi, there is something else that I must tell you. It is about Wu Jia. I had been withholding this information for a long time, but I think now is the right time. His origins are… complicated. Only a few people know about his past and to fight him properly, you cannot continue without this knowledge…”
Xing Yi’s breath ceased as he hung on Que Zhi’s words.
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The next day, Xing Yi, Elder Yang, and He Yazhu had convened at the Bottom Carp Gate.
Waiting for them was the other elders and their disciples.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting!” Elder Yang announced their arrival with an apologetic smile.
“There is no need for Brother Yang to apologise. Doing this also helps my disciples test their patience. Getting frustrated over a few minutes of supposedly wasted time is a sign that one is unsuited for the path of cultivation,” Elder Kun waved it off with an energetic smile.
Again, with their strangely hospitable words, the three elders had a brief discussion before they faced the four disciples before them.
“You four are on your own now! Your objective is to acquire the wind treasure that the Jialing tribe is protecting. At the very least, perform reconnaissance on them. If you aren’t able to acquire the wind treasure, try and save us elders face by finding another treasure of equivalent value or worth. However, even if you acquire the wind treasure, you must spend at least a month in the Western Forest. Do not return until then! In case you encounter disaster, we gave each of you a long-rang transmission talisman. Use it at your own discretion. Finally, if you encounter others, let the name of our Bloody Path Sect known!”